Adventures in Jackson, Wyoming

Nestled among the Teton Mountains, roughly 1 mile above sea level is the town of Jackson.  Legendary for it's ski slopes and tourist attractions, the small town of Jackson is surrounded in beauty.  It's also surrounded in a National Park and full of prime hiking territory.  After our 15 mile hike last week we decided that we had conquered the elements.  And so, despite storm warnings, we set out on a hike around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls.  Our producer Keith, his mom Carol and his wife and our choreographer, Cindy came with us.  It was their first time to Jackson and we were eager to show off its wonders.  About one and a half miles into our hike it started to rain.  It was a hot day so no one was too concerned.  After a few minutes though, some golf-ball sized chunks of hail started to fall.  It was neat to watch, even comical.  Then the hail got thicker.  We hurried to find shelter from the painful downpour but we were in a relatively open part of the trail.  With our backpacks over our heads we huddled beneath some skinny trees and prayed.  As anyone who has seen a hail storm knows, they don't last very long, but they can be quite painful.  It was the longest 10 minutes of my life.  When it finally ended we decided we had had enough of hiking and headed back to the car.  A thick blanket of hail covered everything so that it looked like a fresh snowfall.  The path turned into a river and the entire forest steamed.  After the shock of the storm subsided we all had a great hike.  We compared hail bruises and survival tactics and got a great story out of it.  All together a very satisfying adventure.  Still we don't plan to go hiking anytime soon.  

Other Wyoming adventures await us, but that's for another post...

On the road again!

The roads are treacherous coming from the north to Jackson, Wyoming.  Even with a speed limit of 75 mph the going was slow.  Our faithful tour bus took us the distance but with difficulty.  It overheated at every hill until a friendly truck driver took pity on us.  Apparently you have to power spray your radiator and switch to a low gear and run the RPMs as high as you can to weather the hills.  His advice was good, and it helped us a lot.  But when you get to a 10% grade, it's every man for himself.  Our brakes started smoking halfway down the mountain and it was an hour before we could risk the downhil climb once more.  

To it's credit, the road was beautiful...well not the road exactly, the scenery around us was, and it made the trip quite enjoyable, despite our frequent stops.

The Capital of Big Sky

One day, one night.  That's all the time we planned to stay in the capital of Montana.  After a trip to the local brewery however, our plans changed drastically, and it wasn't just because of the beer.  The small city of Helena had decided to put out its finest entertainment for our surprise visit, including a FREE symphony concert under the stars.  How could we refuse?

Our 'one day' turned into two, and then three as the date of the concert was confirmed.  Meanwhile we kept busy, mostly avoiding an imminent band rehearsal.  Luckily for our fans, we failed.

We explored Helena's running possibilities (we are all long distance runners) and took a bike ride downtown, which didn't look far away but Montanan plains can be deceptive and you don't notice the uphill slope until it's too late.  All in all it was a delightfully 

grueling ride and we got to see a lot of Helena in the process.  We took a riverboat tour as well, following a section of the Lewis and Clark trail.  We were a little disappointed that we had missed the original journey of Lewis and Clark by 203 years but we managed to cope.

The Helena Symphony Orchestra was accompanied by a narration performed by the astronaut Buzz Aldrin, which fit in nicely with the starry theme.  

What it truly lacked though, was movement.  So my sister Kathryn and I took it upon ourselves to produce and perform impromptu dance moves to each musical piece.  We soon had several blankets full of kids playing different parts (they especially liked the Star Wars theme) and got several standing ovations from our loved ones.  Everybody else was more interested in the music.  We could only feel sorry for them.

Tomorrow we leave for new and as of yet, unknown destinations in a south-ish direction.  Who can tell what other exciting adventures this Montanan "Big Sky Country" can churn out for us!

Where have all the pictures gone?

Is it just me, or are all the pictures missing?

From the City Streets to the Forest Paths

Every time we tour the west coast we pass close to Glacier National Park.  And every time we do, there is always something to keep us from visiting: sleet, snow, or a show deadline.  This trip though, Dad put his foot down and we pulled over and surrounded ourselves in the wilderness.  We have seen more wildlife in this trip than at almost any other National park; the exception being Yellowstone.  

One of the most interesting things about traveling is learning to live in all kinds of environments.  The park is gorgeous, but what it makes up for in beauty it loses in modern comforts, such as water, electricity, and cell phone service.  We learn to take freezing 'teaspoon' showers and laugh about 'generator running hours', which we always seem to miss.  We race to find rangers so we can report bear sightings (we've had 3!) and take in the incredible beauty that surrounds us.  Two 7-mile hikes and a 7 hour 15-mile hike later, we are looking forward to joining civilization.  We all need a shower...

The first post, the only post, and therefore the only one that counts!

Our summer tour started with a bang.  We drove over 3,000 miles (5,000 km) to Alberta Canada, and the city of Calgary.  Our RV, a trusty and usually mostly faithful vehicle, was on the verge of collapse by the time we reached Tennessee.  Despite it's best efforts it didn't get much of a rest, we didn't either.  We were never really sure it would make it up the road another mile, let alone all the way up into Canada and so we drove long hours at minimum highway speeds.  Somehow we managed to make it in record time.  

Calgary is an adventure in itself.  During the Calgary Stampede (week or so), the entire city shuts down.  All work stops and the city turns into one huge party.  Everyone is dressed in Cowboy worthy costuming and blasting their favorite country music with pride.  We spent our days performing all over the city and our nights downtown bicycling through the mayhem.  We had the pleasure of performing with some of Canada's best: The Calgary Fiddlers, 

Tom Jackson, 

and The Good Brothers.  

We reconnected with our friends in Barrage, saw Natasha Bedingfield live and even had some time to hike the Canadian Rockies!